OPINION: The McCanns have been punished for their biggest mistake - there's nothing to be gained by reminding them of it.We all make mistakes - but some are much, much bigger than others.

BYTOM EVANS22:36, 27 APR 2017

Think of the biggest mistake you’ve ever made.

The sort of thing that keeps you awake when your subconscious has decided to remind the rest of your brain who’s boss.

You might have got away with it, save for a cringeworthy memory. Or it might have cost you your job, or caused a fight or a crash, or spoiled a relationship, or got you arrested.

For an unlucky few, their biggest mistake was their final one. For others, it has consequences that last for ever.

Now imagine the whole world knows about your biggest mistake and its awful consequences, and gleefully reminds you of it every day.

And imagine that, for a lot of these people, your mistake isn’t enough and they feel the need to accuse you of something even worse.

Kate and Gerry McCann made the biggest mistake of their lives nearly 10 years ago.

This is not a “there but for the grace” confessional. I would not, could not, have made the McCanns’ mistake – assuming their kids would be fine while they went out for dinner.

But they did. And after getting away with it a few times, they were punished in the harshest way.

From then on, they were fair game, public property, doomed to have their mistake analysed and explained and criticised over and over again, by people they’d never met and never would.

Their biggest mistake had resulted in the loss of their little girl, and instead of sympathy for their loss and their shame, they became pariahs.

I don’t care if they went jogging or played tennis, or whatever they did to keep themselves sane. I don’t care if the internet thinks they looked like grieving parents “should”. Thankfully, few of us know how we’d react in that situation.

Others go further, of course, and pretend they know more about the case than the police who have been investigating it. They accuse the McCanns of the most serious of crimes, and then dream up theories to explain why they have not been charged with anything, despite being investigated as suspects for 10 months.

We have two choices. We can grab the popcorn and watch the decade-long disaster movie play out, hoping for the most exciting possible ending.

Or we can write off the keyboard warriors as cranks and ghouls, and keep our fingers crossed for a miracle for Madeleine.

We have those choices, because it’s not us. It’s not our lives; she’s not our daughter.